Archeologogical Pavilion Elisengarten

BRIEF: The housing in of the settlement structures (dating back some 5000 years) discovered in the Elisengarten designed to function as one of the five “archaeological windows” of the city of Aachen.

ADDED VALUE: With conscious dissociation from the typical glass vitrines found within the urban context, a stainless steel construction encases the necessary glass enclosure. A public inter-zone is thus created, opening up to the surrounding gardens where one is invited to linger and contemplate the city’s history.

The uniqueness of the archaeological site in the Elisengarten park lies in its layering of different settlement structures from various eras of Aachen city history. This extraordinary historical strata is mirrored in the concept of the pavilion’s shell: the outside shell consists of two layers of diagonally overlapping stainless steel profiles. The space between this open shell and the actual glass housing of the archaeological site invites the visitor to wander off the park paths and discover the archaeological finds. The transparent and reduced construction correlates not only to the building requirements of the excavation site but also to the climatic challenges of the site.

It enables also an attentive integration of the building into one of the most popular parks in Aachen. The pavilion blends in with the row of archaeological windows and provides a further highlight to the “Charlemagne Route” in conveying visibility to the historic routes of the city of Aachen by means of a very specific constructional intervention.

Typology
Exhibition Pavilion

Construction volume
ea 155m² gfa 160m² volume 590m²

Client
City of Aachen with the support of DSA – Daten- und Systemtechnik GmbH

Architect
kadawittfeldarchitektur Realization 2012-2013

Competition
1st Prize 2009

Project Management
Benjamin Beckers, Jonas Kröber

Photographers
Jörg Hempel, Jens Kirchner